Since CNET would not let me comment, I guess I had to publish it here. Their post:

Dish reportedly readying nationwide satellite broadband

Dish Network is reportedly preparing to roll out a nationwide
satellite-based broadband service this fall, ramping up competition with
cable companies....The satellite, which was launched last month, can support download
speeds of 15 megabits per second and can handle about 2 million new
Internet customers, the sources told Bloomberg. However, speeds may be
limited to 5 megabits per second to accommodate more customers.
Pricing estimates for the new service were not revealed, though it's
expected to be more expensive than cable or DSL. The service will likely
be aimed at customers in rural areas where wired connections are
prohibitively expensive and cellular alternatives are unavailable.
Dish is expected to bundle the new Internet service with TV programming
packages, increasing its competition with cable companies such as
Comcast and Time Warner, which also offer bundled broadband and TV
programming.

This post of mine is a must read on this subject. Digital TV was designed to be bi-directional and to be capable of carrying broadband to rural areas -- everywhere -- cheaply. In addition to all the media it now supports. If Dish claims not to know this, they are being disingenuous; if they truly do not, incompetent. Either way profiting greatly from the ignorance of the people, or from a short-lived shortfall in providers. Perhaps TPTB are in cahoots again, and the heralded Cheap Broadband For All was merely the sugar to get Amurrcans to swallow Digital TV: did I mention it is inherently bi-directional? Also much is lost in the way of locating intrusive or invasive signals, or data leakage from one's system, by triangulation, since there is no triangulation. No onscreen ghosts to tell you how far away the spooks are, or where another node has been installed unbeknownst. "But here, here's Amurrcan Idol." To paraphrase Saint Bill of the Hicks, "Go back to sleep, America". In front of the set, like you always do when your wife works late and you eat a pint of your favorite ice cream, the room lit only by the screen....